September 2011

Six months after an earthquake and tsunami, Japan's populace and its clinicians are
sizing up the long-term health effects of the physical injuries, the mental trauma
and the damage to the nation's health care facilities. Internists describe the aftermath
in their own words.

New guidelines and diagnostic advances are identifying Alzheimer's disease and its
precursors much earlier in the course of the disease. The bad news is that, for now
at least, these improvements may only create more dilemmas for general internists
for the role of biomarkers and communicating with patients.

Experts hope a new plan launched in May by the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services will target hepatitis from a number of fronts, including education, treatment
and prevention, and increasing the training of clinicians to diagnose and treat hepatitis
and immunize patients.

Advances in the understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of cancer, rooted in knowledge
of the genetic derangements underpinning each tumor type, leads to the question of
whether clinicians should classify cancers by their tissue of origin, or their mutation
of origin. Which diagnostic tree is the better example?.

The American College of Physicians collaborates with other medical societies about
how internists can enable members to provide better patient experiences and outcomes,
as well as increase access to affordable, available, high-quality, cost-conscious
care.

ACP disputes the relative values assigned to observation care codes, believing that
they do not fully account for the physician work involved in providing the services.
But CMS finalized the relative values at the disputed levels. ACP advocacy and members'
input is critical to helping improve internal medicine physicians' recognition for
the care they provide.

Setting up an influenza vaccine clinic is a simple way to immunize all patients in
a practice. It's easy to achieve that goal if the practice is well organized. Here
is a step-by-step guide to running a successful flu vaccine clinic.

Susan T. Hingle, FACP, and Robert M. McLean, FACP, are seeking election as Chair-elect
of the Board of Governors. The Governors will be casting ballots online shortly, with
the winner to be announced in October.

Internal medicine physicians are specialists who apply scientific knowledge and clinical expertise to the diagnosis, treatment, and compassionate care of adults across the spectrum from health to complex illness. ACP Internist provides news and information for internists about the practice of medicine and reports on the policies, products and activities of ACP. All published material, which is covered by copyright, represents the views of the contributor and does not reflect the opinion of the American College of Physicians or any other institution unless clearly stated.